(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT)
China’s newest star, Wen Ruibo was eligible to play in three events this week, he left Taiyuan victorious in two of the three. In Men’s Singles, Ruibo was the second seed and he had a path to the Final almost as scripted, winning his first two matches (over Josh Chua and USA’s Ma Jinbao) 3-0, winning his Quarterfinal match over Shinozuka 3-1, and winning a tight Semifinal match 3-2 over Li Tianyang. During that run, Ruibo only trailed once – and that was after dropping the first game to Hiroto Shinozuka in the Quarters.
The other half of the draw went “off script” from the start. Top seeded Xiang Peng lost his opening round match against Luka Mladenovic (World No. 82 from Luxembourg). Mladenovic wasn’t able to keep any momentum, losing the next day to Kristian Karlsson. And Karlsson was unable to put together a run, losing to Tomislav Pucar 3-2 in the Quarters. And then in the Semifinals, Pucar (No. 29) fell to Maharu Yoshimura (No. 84). This set up a Final between the surging Ruibo, and the unlikely Yoshimura. Yoshimura put up a strong fight, winning the first and third game – but Wen Ruibo settled down and dominated the final three games to win the singles title.
Ruibo’s other win was in Men’s Doubles, and this may have been the bigger surprise. While Ruibo was the second seed in Men’s Singles, the top team in Men’s Doubles was Lin Shidong (World No. 2) and Huang Youzheng (World No. 33). Ruibo was paired with Li Hechen, another 17 year old Chinese player who is currently No. 193 in the World Rankings. The two had a tough opening round, barely topping USA’s Ma Jinbo and German Cedric Meissner 3-2. Once clearing the hurdle, the two rolled with a 3-0 win over a Hong Kong pair and then a 3-1 win over a Japanese team. In the top half of the draw, Lin Shidong and Huang Youzheng pounded the competition with 3-0, 3-1, and 3-1 wins. But the surprise came in the Final when the young team of Ruibo and Hechen won the first, third, and fifth game to claim the Doubles title.
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